The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus which is capable of holding communication with an image processing apparatus, such as a personal computer, and more particularly to a facsimile apparatus having a function of facsimile-transmitting an image processed by an image processing apparatus and transferring an image facsimile-received from another facsimile apparatus to the image processing apparatus.
Some facsimile apparatuses have a function of facsimile-transmitting image data of an original document read by an original-document reading portion and a function of receiving image data processed by a personal computer through a communication interface so as to facsimile-transmit image data.
In general, the facsimile apparatus has a function of sequentially storing, in a communication history storage portion therein, information (date and time of communication, ID of the station with which the communication has been performed, number of communicated pages, period of the communication, and normal end "OK" or abnormal end "NG") indicating results of transmission and receipt between facsimile apparatuses and arbitrarily printing the results as a communication history report.
However, the communication history report output from a facsimile apparatus of the foregoing type does not enable a determination to be made with respect to whether the record is a transmission record of image data read from the original-document reading portion or a transmission record of image data received from the personal computer. Therefore, if a problem arises in the communication between, for example, the personal computer and the facsimile apparatus, the communication history report does not permit the cause of the communication problem to be detected. Therefore, a countermeasure for overcoming the error cannot quickly be performed.
When a document processed by a personal computer is facsimile-transmitted by using the facsimile apparatus of the foregoing type, an operator prepares the document by using the personal computer, and then instructs the facsimile apparatus to receive and facsimile-transmit the document. As a result, image data of the prepared document is transferred to the facsimile apparatus. The facsimile apparatus temporarily stores image data received from the personal computer in an image memory thereof. When receipt of image data from the personal computer has been completed, a receiving station instructed from the personal computer is called. After the line has been connected with the receiving station, image data in the image memory is facsimile-transmitted to the receiving station by a predetermined transmission control procedure.
Hitherto, a facsimile system of the foregoing type has not enabled the personal computer side to confirm whether or not image data supplied from the personal computer has been normally facsimile-transmitted to the receiving station. Therefore, when a result of the communication is required to be known, the operator must move to the position at which the facsimile apparatus is installed after the operator has instructed image data to be transferred from the personal computer in order to operate the facsimile apparatus to output a report of the transmission record so as to confirm the result of the communication.
Some facsimile apparatuses have a mode for automatically printing a transmission record report at each transmission operation. In a usual single transmission operation in which image data of an original document set to the original-document reading portion is facsimile-transmitted, whether or not the transmission has been completed normally can be directly confirmed by the operator. Therefore, since the mode for automatically printing the transmission record report is not always required, this mode is sometimes suspended to prevent waste of paper sheets. When the foregoing mode is suspended, the operator of the personal computer must move to the facsimile apparatus and operate the facsimile apparatus as described above to print a required transmission record report.
Some facsimile apparatuses have a single receiving mode for printing image data received from another facsimile apparatus on recording paper by a printing portion thereof and a personal computer receiving mode for transferring received image data to the personal computer which are selectively be switched. A facsimile apparatus of the foregoing type is structured to print image data received from another facsimile apparatus through a telephone line by the printing portion when the single receiving mode has been selected; and in a personal computer receiving mode, the facsimile apparatus transfers received image data to the personal computer through the communication interface.
However, even the facsimile apparatus of the foregoing conventional type capable of selecting the single receiving mode and the personal computer receiving mode has the following problem.
That is, only information indicating results of transmission and receipt between facsimile apparatuses is printed on the communication history report. Therefore, if received image data cannot be transferred to the personal computer in the personal computer receiving mode due to, for example, a breakdown of the personal computer or a problem of the communication interface for establishing the connection with the personal computer, the operation is determined to be normally ended on the communication history. If image data cannot be transferred to the personal computer, image data must be printed by the printing portion in order to prevent annihilation of the received image. Since the result of the communication between the facsimile apparatus and the personal computer is not reflected in the communication history report, it cannot be determined whether the received image printed by the printing portion is a received image printed because of the abnormal communication between the facsimile apparatus and the personal computer or image data printed by the printing portion in the single receiving mode only by confirming the communication history report.